Vaux-de-Cernay (France), Mar 27: Group of Seven foreign ministers met in France on Friday to discuss the conflicts in West Asia, and between Russia and Ukraine, with deep divisions apparent over the US-Israel war with Iran following US President Donald Trump’s repeated complaints that US’ allies have ignored or rejected requests for help in confronting Iran’s retaliation, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most of international shipping.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined his counterparts from G7 nations only 24 hours after Trump’s latest volley of insults lobbed at NATO, as instability in oil markets persisted with the Iran war entering its fourth week along with uncertainty over the status of potential negotiations to end the crisis.
Most of US’ closest allies have greeted the Iran war with deep scepticism, sentiments that were on display as the G7 foreign ministers met at a historic 12th-century abbey in Vaux-de-Cernay, outside Paris, even as they urged a diplomatic solution to resolve the situation.
As the diplomats gathered, France’s Minister of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin said the war in the Middle East “is not ours”, adding that France’s position is strictly defensive.
“The aim is truly this diplomatic approach, which is the only one that can guarantee a return to peace,” she said on Europe 1 and CNews. “Many countries are concerned, and it is absolutely essential that we find a solution. British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, meanwhile, said Britain also favoured a diplomatic path, acknowledging differences with the US. “We have taken the approach of supporting defensive action, but also we’ve taken a different approach on the offensive action that has taken place as part of this conflict,” she said.
Rubio has already faced difficulties in trying to sell the US strategy for the Iran conflict, but Trump’s vitriolic comments about NATO countries not stepping up to help the US and Israel during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday will likely make it an even tougher task.
Of the G7 nations — besides the U.S. — Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Italy are members of the trans-Atlantic military alliance. Japan is the only one that is not.
“We are very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing,” Trump said, a sentiment echoed later by his top diplomat.
“Frankly, I think countries around the world, even those that are out there complaining about this a little bit, should actually be grateful that the United States has a president that’s willing to confront a threat like this,” Rubio said Thursday.
Rubio, who chatted briefly with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, also still has work to do to smooth things over with allies like those in Europe that have faced criticism or outright threats from Trump and others in his Republican administration.
Europe is still smarting over Trump’s earlier demands to take over Greenland from NATO-ally Denmark and are concerned over US support to Ukraine in its war with Russia. The conflict in the Middle East has added another point of tension.
Asked by reporters about the reception he was expecting before boarding his flight to France, Rubio said he was looking forward to gathering with his G7 counterparts, asserting “we’re going to have great meetings”.
“I’m not there to make them happy,” he said. “I get along with all of them on a personal level, and we work with those governments very carefully, but the people I’m interested in making happy are the people of the United States. That’s who I work for. I don’t work for France or Germany or Japan.”
He later posted on X that he would be meeting “world leaders about the security concerns we share around the world and opportunities to address the situation in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war”.
Trump’s complains over “lack of support” from allies
Trump has complained that he has not been able to rally support over the war on Iran, and that NATO and most other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran’s chokehold has disrupted oil shipments and pushed up energy prices.
“We’re there to protect NATO, to protect them from Russia. But they’re not there to protect us,” Trump said Thursday. He later added, “I never thought we needed them. I was more doing a test.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had earlier reiterated the increase in defense spending by alliance members — which Trump has urged — saying Europe and Canada had been “over-reliant on US’ military might” but a “shift in mindset” has taken hold.
Rutte said NATO has been clear that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has “long recognised the threat Iran’s missile programme posed to allies and their interests. And what the US is currently doing is degrading those capabilities, both the nuclear and the missile”.
France sceptical of Iran war
France, the host of the G7 meeting, has been highly sceptical of the war. The chief of France’s defense staff, Gen Fabien Mandon, said this week that US’ allies had not been informed about the start of hostilities.
“They have just decided to intervene in the Near and Middle East without notifying us,” Mandon said. “We acted immediately, surprised by an American ally, who remains an ally, but who is less and less predictable and doesn’t even bother to inform us when it decides to engage in military operations. This affects our security. This affects our interests.”
However, 35 countries joined military talks hosted by Mandon on how to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “once the intensity of hostilities has sufficiently decreased”, France’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Rubio said with Iran threatening global shipping, countries that care about international law “should step up and deal with it”.
Similar sentiments to Mandon’s have been expressed by other allies that also worry about the US commitment to Ukraine as the Iran war closes in on four weeks.
“We must avoid further destabilisation, secure our economic freedom and develop perspectives for an end of and the time after the hostilities,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Thursday. “Our joint support for Ukraine… must not crumble now. That would be a strategic mistake with a view to Euro-Atlantic security.”
Wadephul said he expected “that we can define a joint position” on the Middle East.
“Of course, this is about ending this conflict as quickly as possible, but also ending it sustainably, and that means bringing about security in the Strait of Hormuz and ensuring overall that the Iranian regime, which in the past has behaved negatively enough, is also curtailed in the future,” Wadephul said. (AP)
